Posted on Thu, Mar. 13, 2003
Editorial | Behind enemy lines
Pentagon fears snails, not Saddam.
Daily on CNN, high-ranking Defense Department spokesmen brag about
America's military might. Yet today, on Capitol Hill, Congress is likely
to hear testimony that woodpeckers and dolphins are impeding military
readiness. What's up with that? A larger agenda is playing out in
Washington, one that wouldn't necessarily protect soldiers but would
surely endanger public health.
Under the guise of preparation for war, the Pentagon is seeking broad
exemptions from environmental laws that regulate air pollution,
hazardous waste and toxic cleanup and that protect endangered species,
migratory birds and marine mammals.
The changes are part of the 2004 defense authorization bill. Testimony
begins today in the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, neither
of which has the environmental expertise to judge the proposals.
Congress rejected these same ideas last year, and for good reason:
They're not needed. The environmental laws, as written, already contain
exemptions in the interest of national security. The President need only
invoke them. For example, if the Air Force needs to increase training
flights of fighter jets, the President or another senior official can
declare a temporary exception to the Clean Air Act - at one base or
nationwide.
Yet the Pentagon, which manages 425 installations on 25 million acres,
wants broader power to relax routine pollution from power plants,
incinerators and traffic. It wants to leave firing ranges littered with
toxic munitions. It wants to ignore injuries to marine life from Navy
drills.
This editorial can be viewed at:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/5378446.htm
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